confident man would have asked himself whether other nations than the Barbary pirates, upon whom his theory of foreign concerns could not be brought to bear, might not insult the United States, and whether in any case his theory could be relied on with perfect certainty. For this theory of foreign "concerns" was the keystone of the arch of Jeffersonian Republicanism. If that failed armies, navies, internal taxes, banking systems, liberal constructions of the constitution,-the whole troop of Federalist heresies and corruptions which the Republicans had never tired of denouncing, would be the inevitable result. If this theory could not stand the test of trial, the foundation principle of Gallatin's financial system-that the national debt, being a pillar of corruption, the expenses of the government must be so arranged as to permit its speedy payment-was gone, and the denunciations which Republicans had poured upon Hamilton because a national debt had not seemed to him the worst of national calamities, would be proved to have had no grounds. In truth, the issue between Hamilton and Gallatin, Federalism and Jeffersonian Republicanism, in one of its phases might have been narrowed down to this: Might not a nation as well as an individual have to choose debt as the least of all possible evils? Had the world advanced so far towards the millenium that a nation could work out its political salvation-devote itself in the most intelligent way to the advancement of the highest interests of its citizens-without going in

debt? The history of the next three administrations will

give us the answer to this question.

QUESTIONS.

1. Jefferson drew a contrast between the Republican and monarchical Federalists. What did he mean?

2. What was one of the leading objects of Jefferson's inaugural ?

3. To what extent did Jefferson attempt to give expression to the principles of the revolution of 1800, and why?

4. Compare the objects of Hamilton and Gallatin in their financial systems.

5. Show how the details of Gallatin's financial system were related to the political objects which he had in view.

6. Henry Adams says: “Gallatin's economies turned on the question whether the national debt or the risk of foreign aggression were most dangerous to America." Is he right?

7. Why did Gallatin propose to dispense with the internal taxes?

8. What amount of money did Gallatin propose to devote to the domestic functions of the government?

9. What was the Republican theory of the domestic functions of the government?

10. What sum did Gallatin propose to devote to the army and navy?

11. What was the Republican theory of foreign "concerns?" 12. What was Jefferson's theory of the relation between the United States and Tripoli, when Tripoli declared war against this country?

13. Discuss the practical outcome of his theory.

14. Could Tripoli be at war with the United States without the United States being at war with Tripoli?

15. What is the meaning of the clause in the constitution which says that Congress shall declare war?

16. What was the keystone of the arch of Jeffersonian Republicanism, and why?

CHAPTER XXV.

JEFFERSON'S FIRST MESSAGE.

IN stating his reasons, in a letter addressed to the

Jefferson's reasons for substi

for a speech, and ing internal

President of the Senate, for substituting a message for the speech with which the first two Presidents had opened Congress, Jefferson showed his desire to conciliate the moderate Federal- tuting a message ists. He did not wish to exasperate the for recommendfriends of Washington and Adams by say- taxes. ing that in making speeches to Congress they had been imitating the king of England, and paving the way for the introduction of monarchy into this country. Ignoring the real reason, he said that he had had principal regard to the convenience of the legislature, to the economy of their time, and so on. The same characteristic appeared repeatedly in the message itself. The Republicans were opposed on principle, as we know, to internal taxes. But when Jefferson recommended their repeal, he did it on grounds which neither of his predecessors would have hesitated to take, provided they had agreed with him as to the facts. "Weighing all probabilities of expense," he said, "as well as of income, there is reasonable ground of confidence that we may now safely dispense with all internal taxes, and that the remaining sources of revenue will be sufficient to provide for

the support of government," and to pay the interest and principal of the public debt within a shorter period than had been expected. Washington and Adams would have been unwilling to recommend internal taxes if they had thought them unnecessary.

In the paragraph immediately following, Jefferson showed his hand most clearly. "These views," he said, "of reducing our burdens are formed in the expectation that a sensible and at the same time a salutary reduction may take place in our habitual expenditures. For this purpose, those of the civil government, the army and the navy, will need revisal. When we consider that this government is charged with the external and mutual relations only of these states; that the states themselves have principal care of our persons, our property and our reputation, constituting the great field of human concerns, we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated, too expensive; whether offices and officers have not been multiplied unnecessarily, and sometimes injuriously to the service they were meant to promote." In other words, there had been an unnecessary multiplication of offices, because of the erroneous Federalist theory of the functions of the general government. Supposing that the general government had domestic functions to perform, that it had more than foreign "concerns" to attend to, that the state governments were not the domestic branch of our governmental system, the Federalists had multiplied

offices to undertake work with which the general government had nothing to do. But he did not state what was, to his own mind, the strongest argument against it. He did not object to the Federalist theory of government because it endangered liberty, and tended toward monarchy, but because it was unnecessarily expensive. "Among these (officials) who are dependent on executive discretion, I have begun the reduction of what was deemed unnecessary. The expenses of diplomatic agency have been considerably diminished." After suggesting that Congress should pass in review the offices that had been established by law, he continued: "Considering the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies, and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burden which the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every occasion which presents itself for taking off the surcharge; that it never may be seen here, that after leaving to labor the smallest portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government shall itself

consume the whole residue of what it was instituted to guard." Of course, such talk was popular, and no one knew it better than Jefferson. But if lack of economy had been his sole ground of objection to Federalist administrations, he would have had a poor case against them. The current expenses of the government in 1800, including the expenses of the quasi war with France, were only about $7,000,000; and the average annual expenditures for the preceding ten years, including